The genocide never stopped

Illusions of a ceasefire shatter as Israel announced the total ban on entry of goods and the cutting of electricity into Gaza followed by an air attack killing over 400 Palestinians in one night

In the last few days of Phase 1 of the “fragile ceasefire” which went into effect on January 19, Al Jazeera reported that at least six children died in one night in Gaza due to cold weather. Israel was required, under the terms of Phase 1 of the ceasefire, to allow into Gaza an agreed upon number of tents and mobile homes. However, like many of the conditions Israel accepted, it refused to implement them, largely restricting the entry of tents and almost all mobile homes into the Palestinian territory, exposing these children and others to premature death and harm.

The ceasefire did not mean an end to the genocide in Gaza

These developments beg the question of the impact of Phase 1 of the “ceasefire” (during which Israel continued to fire on and kill Palestinians) on the ongoing genocide. Phase 1 of the ceasefire led to a limited hostage exchange, the partial withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from Gaza and a surge of aid into the besieged territory (although nowhere near as much as was agreed upon). While this could only be described as a welcome development after 15 months of daily uninterrupted bombardment resulting in the pummeling of Gaza’s 2023 population of 2.3 million people with over 85,000 tonnes of explosives, it importantly, did not result in an end to the genocide.

Because genocide, legally speaking, concerns the creation of conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of a people in whole or in part, it is only when those conditions of life which have been intentionally put into place through the perpetrator’s conduct cease to exist that we can speak of an end to the genocide. However, what would be required to reverse the conditions which are antithetical to life in Gaza far supersedes what was agreed, much less actually implemented in the first phase.

Consider that Israel destroyed almost every single home in Gaza since October 2023. According to the latest figures by the UN, Israel destroyed or caused damage to 92% of the houses in the Gaza Strip (roughly 872,000 housing units). Entire cities have been replaced with rubble. The images of Jabalia and Beit Hanoun shock the conscience. Grass has been replaced with mounds of thick mud carved with Israeli tank marks. Cities with mounds of rubble. Absent the reconstruction of Gaza (which necessarily implies an end to the unlawful siege now in its 17th year), it is difficult to see how one could even begin to speak of an end to the genocidal conditions present in Gaza.